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Risky Business

by Annabelle Slator

A startup founder’s high-stakes double identity

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A startup founder’s high-stakes double identity

Jess Cole’s funding problems lead her to enter a tech competition under her twin brother’s name, with her brother playing CEO and Jess posing as his assistant. The deception brings them into the orbit of the competition’s host and judges, but Jess’s own connection with fellow assistant Oliver complicates the arrangement. Set amid events in Rome, Paris, and Vienna, the story combines romantic comedy with mistaken identity and the pressures of a male-dominated tech industry. Its setup also draws on Shakespeare’s *Twelfth Night*, while a past incident and the NDA connected to it add another layer to Jess’s efforts to keep her company—and her cover—intact.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Romance readers interested in mistaken identities and heroines in disguise
  • Readers who enjoy workplace and startup settings shaped by competition
  • Those looking for a contemporary romantic comedy with a *Twelfth Night* connection

Themes

Gender bias in the tech industryIdentity and deceptionAmbition and financial pressureRomance and risk

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

In this whip-smart romance, a woman desperate to keep her start-up afloat is forced to pose as her brother's assistant during a tech competition, hoping a male-led company will be taken more seriously, only to find her secret identity compromised when she has a hot one-night stand with the head of the competition's assistant.

When tech founder Jess Cole is struggling to gain funding for her company, she begins to wonder if it's because she's a woman in the male-dominated tech industry--especially due to a former incident and subsequent NDA that's been following her for years. In an act of financial desperation, she applies to a competition for start-ups using her twin brother Spencer's name, pretending to be a man. To her surprise, it works! As though she's discovered the ultimate industry cheat code, Jess and Spencer are invited into the exclusive world of Tech Rumble, an annual innovation competition hosted on the world's stage by tech darling Dominic Orsino.

Spencer, an out-of-work actor, must pretend to be the CEO, and Jess must become his loyal "assistant," Violet. Spencer is thrust into the limelight; charming Dominic and the competition judges but making promises Jess can't keep--or afford.

"Violet" is introduced to the handsome Oliver, a fellow assistant who shows her how to let her hair down and enjoy life outside the pressures of her job. But she soon discovers falling for Oliver is riskier than any mistake Spencer has made.

During wild nights with Oliver in Rome, secret rendezvous in Paris, and luxurious parties in Vienna, Jess must navigate the competition and try to stay on top of her lies, especially when someone from her past comes sniffing around, putting her ruse at risk.

A nod to the early 2000s Shakespeare adaptations, this twist on The Twelfth Night is a fast-paced steamy ride from start to finish!

Tropes:

    meet cuteone-night stand turns to moreheroine in disguisemistaken identity

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